The thing is, he went to North Texas State, so he's definitely learned some classic hand technique, and I'm sure that if you sat him down on a pad he could show you some incredibly finished technique from gladstone or some other school. The thing it, his technique looks weird but he definitely gets an audible effect when he uses his arms and his shoulders, but whenever he does some singles or technical stuff that requires some technique, he looses all his "habits" and has some very effective use of wrists and fingers. He's a perfect example of someone whose learned the rules and the breaks them.

So true about the audible effect that you mentioned, I couldn't agree more. Although his technique confuses me the sound he gets out of this drums is incredible! Ari sure does get a lot of work in NYC too, probably one of the hardest working drummers there.